The surprise value of a pressure cooker
My grandmother taught me to cook. Her favorite kitchen tool was her pressure cooker, especially for vegetables. Need a side dish in a hurry? She'd chop up a bunch of carrots, toss in a little butter and sugar, and put it all in the pressure cooker. Shortly, there would be a bowl full of sweet carrots even her picky grandchildren would eat.
I got out of the habit of using the pressure cooker in college, as I switched to the microwave for quick meals. But I've enjoyed getting back to good home cooking, especially when I don't have to spend hours with a pan of carrots on the stove. That's where Kuhn Rikon's Duromatic Pressure Cooker comes in. This isn't my grandmother's pressure cooker. Her's had a valve that was a separate piece from the lid. The process of cooking dinner usually started with a grand hunt for the valve. The Duromatic has two pieces: the lid and the pan. Its handles are also much easier to handle for a cook in a hurry.
But Kuhn Rikon has gone beyond making the pressure cooker a little easier to use. Most cooks use pressure cookers because they require less time. But, according to Kuhn Rikon, they also require a lot less energy. They asked Gaynes Labs to do an independent study: pressure cooking used 67 percent less energy to cook meat and potatoes than conventional cookware. That's the equivalent of turning off a standard 60-watt light bulb for 36 hours. Fast food and a lower electric bill? What's not to love?
